Well, the peace and quiet was bound to end sooner or later.  We came across this little guy today quite by accident while picking up fish supplies at the pet store.  The Oregon Dog Rescue was having an adoption day, and Samson needed a new home.  He’s originally from California, is roughly five years old, with only one eye.

So we’re foster-caring Samson for a week, essentially test-driving the pooch.   If, by the end of the week, it looks like he fits into this crazy house, he’ll stay,  but judging by the reaction he got when he walked in the door this afternoon, I’m guessing he’ll be with us for awhile.

We’re big believers/supporters of  the shelters,  and it’s very cool that ODR let us try him out in the family for a week before making a decision.  So far so good.

Samson

Samson

Thanksgiving 2011

Things have been a bit hectic around the house, so I’m a bit behind.

But, I have a little holiday 2-fer for you.  Part 1 is of the Thanksgiving 2011 celebration with Terri & Lloyd Phillips and the Davis clan.  We ate too much, definitely drank too much, but had a great time.

Here’s a video of the fun.  

Next up…Christmas, which is in full swing now!

Reed's 12th Birthday

Reed turned 12 this week, and we’re still in shock.  First that he’s 12, second that he survived the first twelve years….he can be a bit of a handful .  But we love him, and had fun celebrating his birthday.

Reed chose Thai for dinner, so we visited the Thai/Vietnamese fusion place down the hill.  It was purty good.

This birthday, Reed joined the cellphone generation.  We told him a couple of years ago that he could get a cellphone at 12, and we made good on that.

Here is some video of the celebration.

Here’s the video.

Cover

Inside

Contest display

Rachel's Entry

Rumplestiltskin & Rachel

We are so proud of Rachel, and hope she keeps drawing!  Lots of fun today.

Flag

We had a fantastic fourth, and again, hung out with The Davis Family over in Hillsboro. It was food, fun, friends, and of course, fireworks.   The event started with a good ’0l fashioned water balloon fight.  I managed to not get nailed with the camera too badly, but I don’t believe there was a dry person afterwards.

Then it was food:  burgers, hot dogs, and way too many munchies.

Water Balloon Fight

Grillmaster

Goofy

Blue Eyes

More Goofy Faces

Reed, Bob, Randy

The Davis Family

This was also my first video with the new Final Cut X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.  The tools retain many of the “isms” that made the tool great, altho, it’s a totally new codebase, and not everything is there in the first version of the rewrite.  Still it worked pretty well for me.   No major glitches, I’m happy to report.

Here are a couple of screen captures of Final Cut and Motion tools:

Motion 5

Final Cut X

There are some nice time-saving features built into this rev of the tool, and I’ll post more on my experience when I get a sec.

And of course, there’s video here!

Hope your holiday was great too!  Drop me a note and let me know how you’re doing!

I really need a break, and if I needed one, Becky needed one (and deserved one) more.  Been working non-stop since January, and the stress was getting to me.  So we took advantage of the week, and after birthdays, took off for the mountains.

We like Skamania Lodge for quick getaways.  It’s a mountain lodge on the edge of the Columbia River, just an hour east of Portland in the Gorge.

So we camped at Skamania, and went sledding during the day @ Little John.  Little John is our favorite sledding spot that is about 30 minutes south of Hood River, OR.

The music for this one just seemed to fit.  Feels like I’ve been gone for ages, and missed a lot.  Can’t tell you how many times I woke up in foreign hotel rooms missing my family.  Lotsa time lost on planes and in hotel rooms.  I hope Becky knows how much I appreciate her, and all her hard work.

• iPad/iPod Video
• Windows

• iPod/iPad Ready
• MOV

Tualatin Timberwolves

[Updated 11-02-2010:  with Randy's team party video]

Randy’s team (that’s him on lower left, #8) went undefeated this season, beating the Tigard Tigers 26-24 on a wet Saturday.  I put together a short end of year video that captures some of the fun.  That was a great group of kids/coaches.

Video is here (pick your format):

• Youtube
• ipad/ipod video
• H.264
• Windows Media

Team party video of Randy getting his dogtag is here

Discovery Cove

Becky and the kids have put up with an inordinate amount of business travel, and I owe them a lot of time for simplifying things for me while work was so busy.  They put up with a lot of international travel, late-night meetings, countless hours of technical work so I owed them big-time.

With sabbatical, I have enjoyed over 2 months off, basically the entire summer.  We seized the opportunity, and Becky put together the be-all and end-all of vacations while busy managing kids.  It was an amazing, month-long trip.

Tower of Terror

We traveled with close friends, the Davis Family for most of the trip.  It was risky traveling with John, because our livers always seem to suffer when we’re together.  Despite, tropical settings, we managed to behave ourselves for the most part.  John has been on sabbatical too, so the timing couldn’t have been better for an extended vacation.  So on a cool, clear morning in Oregon, we loaded the bags up and hopped a plane for a big adventure.

Families

We told the kids we were going to Kansas, and they were excited.  It wasn’t until we reached Denver that we told them they’d be spending 3 weeks in Florida.  Stunned silence is the only way to explain their reaction.  They didn’t believe us until Becky actually boarded the plane to Orlando in Denver.  There is a sick pleasure in torturing your kids like this (as much as I hate to admit it).

The trip took us across the country, with 3 weeks in FL hanging out at the beach, visiting [too many] theme parks, and enjoying local cuisine, and then a week in Kansas.

The trip was loads-o-fun, but besides catching up with family, the highlight was definitely swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove.  One of the benefits of having a large family is that we effectively had our own private swims with dolphins and private tour of the park.  They treated us like rock stars.  Highly recommended if you ever get the chance.  The theme parks were fun, but very very crowded, and it was hot outside.

I have more to add on the trip, and will update this when I get a chance, but my favorite M-I-L is patiently awaiting a video .  Pictures and video follow….

• Pictures
• iPad/iPod/Mac/Win Video
• Windows Video